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Focusing the 200
Hi.
Just tried the 200 for a short while today, I’ll get more time with it shortly, but I was basically pleasantly surprised,
if surprised at all, BUTFocusing.
Is there a good way to focus it without an external monitor?
I’ve been planning to buy the 17″ panny monitor together with the cam, but it would be nice
if this isn’t an absolute neccesity -;) ads some $$…
And I can easily think of situations wher I wouldn’t like to have an extra monitor attached.When looking on the LCD on-cam screen or in the viewfinder I was not able to focus presisely.
Likevise it was hard to get a hold on the DOF effects the cam can produce with original glass,
I was pretty amazed to see this… on a Panny 17″ screen.BTW, I used Focus Assist, too, but it doesn’t seem to go to a pixelaccurate image.
Or am I wrong?Gunleik
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9 Replies
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This is HD- you need an external monitor or a tape measure. The onboard viewfinder and LCF simply don’t cut it for critical focusing.
Noah
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OK.
Thanks.
Gunleik
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Can anyone recommend a good external monitor for this camera at a resonable price?
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I’ve heard people having decent success with some of the consumer Sony HD LCDs at around the $500 range. I imagine Panny has some consumer models in this arena as well. Again these are not ideal by any means but it’s going to be more than what you’re used to with viewfinder alone.
Noah
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I’m curious about how shallow the DOF can be with the 200. With 1/3″ chips is it that hard to get in the ballpark for a run-n-gun situation? I’d love to use this camera in some field work in the future and bringing an HD LCD monitor would be a drag (but probably lighter than the Sony CRT field unit I use now)
Stan Timek
Pollywog Theater
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It’s really not that tricky to get in the ballpark- if you practice but it’s also nowhere near as simple as say a DV camera because you have more DOF.
Noah
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Zoom in 100%. Open the iris up to wide open. Use the Focus Assist (and the EVF DTL) to get precise focus. Then zoom out, stop down, and shoot.
Several people at NAB asked about focus, and I was able to demonstrate over and over that you can get extremely precise focus just with the camera itself, by following that little procedure. I’d execute critical focus by using only the LCD/Focus Assist, and then let them spot-check how well I did by looking at the attached 17″ monitor. Nailed it every time.
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What Barry is describing here is the standard (time honored) way of focusing a camera… not just with the HVX. This is always how pros do it and have for as long as I can remember.
The thing I love about the HVX200 is that it is finally going to get rid of the “shoe clerks” as the saying goes. With HD, you have to actually know how to light, know how to focus, know how to expose properly… and you have to pay attention all the time. HD has a way of humbling experienced shooters, which in the end will force us all to step up our game… we all got a little lazy with DV…
Mitch Ives
Insight Productions Corp.
mitch@insightproductions.comApple Certified Trainer: Final Cut pro 5
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[Noah Kadner] “This is HD- you need an external monitor or a tape measure. The onboard viewfinder and LCF simply don’t cut it for critical focusing.”
Well said… and this applies to all the cameras… Noah isn’t singling out the HVX.
Mitch Ives
Insight Productions Corp.
mitch@insightproductions.comApple Certified Trainer: Final Cut pro 5
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